Salt and Spice
by Lionheart261
Summary: A series of short stories exploring the interactions between Pearl and "Mystery Girl" Sheena Ramone.
1. Chapter 1: Call Me Maybe---Probably---

So, as a fan of Steven Universe and an avid shipper, it was inevitable that, upon seeing "Last One Out of Beach City," I would immediately become a Mystery Pearl shipper. However, as there have been no developments towards that in the canon(which is weird, because evidence suggests at least 3 months has canonically passed between that episode and the most recent), I thought I'd take a stab at exploring the interactions between Pearl and Mystery Girl(or, as I shall refer to her as, Sheena Ramone) through a series of short stories.

So, without any further ado, here is chapter 1: "Call me Maybe...Probably...Hopefully...Perhaps." I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

 _You'll do it for her, you'll do it for her, you'll do it for her, you'll do it for her…_

Pearl was in the process of repeating that lyric in her head over and over again as she held Steven's phone, trembling with fear, anticipation, and the slightest bit of excitement.

Amethyst, ever the wingman, is egging her on from the sidelines. _So much for "start smaller_ ," Pearl thought grimly, thinking back to Amethyst's initial discouragement and finding it a rather odd contrast. For some reason, her thinking of Amethyst's opinion that she wouldn't be able to talk to her gave her renewed confidence, and after many indecisive vocalations, Pearl finally gets the nerve to press the button and begin calling "S.," otherwise known as Mystery Girl.

As she held the phone on speaker in front of her, she couldn't help jittering a little. After all, not only was this her first real social interaction with an adult human and her first phone call, but also potentially her first "date." _Okay, Pearl. Don't go that far. You've got enough to stress over as it is_ , she thought.

She counted the rings. First 2, then 3. 4. 5. 6. With each failed ring, Pearl felt simultaneously closer to failure and closer to success at the same time. If that makes any sense. The point is, she was both losing hope and tingling with anticipation.

Eventually, the phone stopped ringing and began to speak in Mystery Girl's voice, saying, "You've reached Sheena Ramone. Sorry I can't get to the phone right now. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

The phone then emitted a high pitched beep before the phone spoke in a robotic voice, instructing the caller to record their message at the tone. Pearl, of course, was unfamiliar with the concept of voicemails and thus did not know how she would record one, resulting in her panicking.

"Ah! What do I do now?!" she asked, a lot more hysterically than the situation called for.

"Relax, P," Amethyst replied, "You just gotta wait for the beep so you can deliver a message."

As they spoke, the phone beeped and Pearl was left speechless.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Record the message already!" Amethyst commanded.

"Okay, okay! Just give me a second!" Pearl yelled back, exasperated. She proceeded to record her message.

"Uh, hi, She-Sheena? Uh, this is P-Pearl. We met at that, uh..."

Amethyst whispered, "Mike Krol."

"That Mike Krol concert? Remember, the one in Ocean Town? Anyway, I did some looking around, and I found this small coffee shop in Ocean Town. So, uh, I was wondering if, uh, perhaps we could have a get together there tomorrow a-at 3?"

Pearl could see Amethyst facepalming and emitting a groan of disappointment, but she could deal with that later.

"Uh, anyway, just call me if you're interested, and uh, I'll see you, uh, later. Perhaps."

More groaning.

"Um, anyway, bye!"

Pearl hastily stopped the message and closed the phone as Amethyst criticized her.

"'Get together?' 'Get together?!'" she cried in frustration.

"I panicked! What was I supposed to say?!" Pearl shouted back.

"I don't know, something normal like, 'Let's hang out,' or 'Let's have a drink,' or, heck, even 'Let's go out' would be better than 'Get together!'"

"What's wrong with 'Get together?'"

"It sounds like you're either talking about your kid's playdate or the weekly game of bridge at the old folks' home."

"Well, pardon me for not being well versed in your urban slang!" Pearl retorted as she stormed off.

Amethyst was whispering to herself "Oh, P, if you think **that's** urban slang, you ain't heard nothin yet-" when a sudden sound drew their attention back to the phone.

Bum. Bum. Bum. Bum badada bum...

The chords to the "theme song" Steven wrote.

Someone was calling Steven's phone.

Pearl rushed to check the caller ID. In preparation, Pearl had already loaded the number into Steven's contacts as "Mystery Girl," as the others insisted on calling her that for some reason. She did a double take before looking up at Amethyst, who was hanging off the edge of the couch in anticipation.

"It's her." she said, barely above a whisper, as if she were in awe of the fact that this was actually happening.

"Well, what're you waiting for?! Answer it" Amethyst had scooted over so that Pearl could sit down. "Oh, oh, put it on speaker! I want to hear this!"

"Okay." Pearl replied. She swiped the accept icon, a phone in a green circle, and tensed up, preparing for the worst.

"Hello?" A voice queried.

Pearl nervously glanced at Amethyst before responding, "Uh, hi. Is this Sheena?"

The voice paused for a second before replying, "Yeah, this is Sheena."

The two Gems squealed slightly in their giddiness.

"Who is this?" Sheena asked.

Pearl quickly got back on track, trying hard not to stutter, "Uh, this is Pearl. We met at the Mike Krol concert in Ocean Town?"

Another pause, then a slight grunt of recognition. "Oh yeah!" Sheena exclaimed. "The girl in the ballerina outfit!"

Amethyst snickered at that, but Pearl tried to stay calm, despite blushing profusely. "Uh, yeah. That was me."

"Oh, man, we should totally hang out sometime!" Another pause. "Oh, I know! There's this Crimson 6 concert playing in Empire City next month, and I just won two tickets! Totally cool, right? And there were only 100,000 available!"

"A-a hundred thousand?" Pearl stammered.

"Well, yeah! I mean, it's a big stadium. Trust me, it'll be awesome! They've got massive stereos and food and glowsticks and-"

"Uh, that sounds nice," Pearl interjected, "but I was thinking somewhere a little...smaller? Like this small coffee shop in Ocean Town that I found?"

She paused again, "Oh, the one over by the electronics store?"

Pearl stopped to recall the details of the surrounding buildings before responding, "Uh, yeah, that's the one."

"Man, I love that place! Yeah, we should totally chill there!"

 _Chill?_ Pearl thought. _Seems kind of counter-intuitive_ …"Oh? Uh, great! How does tomorrow at 3 sound?"

"Heck, why wait? It's like, what, 1:30 now?"

Pearl did another double take, but somewhat composed herself and responded, "Uh, sure! Yeah! Tha-that works!"

"Great! I get off work at 2:30. Should give me enough time to drive over there."

"Great!"

"So 3 today works for you?"

"Y-yeah! It works fine!"

One last, brief pause. "Alright! See you then!"

Pearl whispered, "Uh, yeah. S-see you," but the call had already ended.

 _I can't believe I just did that,_ she thought, failing to notice Amethyst running up to pull her into a massive bear hug, squealing at the top of her lungs.

"Woo hoo! Yeah, P!" she shouted to the mountaintops. Pearl was already starting to feel overwhelmed.

 _I can't believe I just did that_! she thought.

Then Steven and Garnet showed up.

Apparently, they'd been sitting behind the counter, unbeknownst to the others, to observe, and were now congratulating Pearl on her success.

"That was amazing!" Steven exclaimed. "She was just sitting there like, 'Who is this?' and you were just like, 'This is Pearl,' like it was nothing! You're like, a total Casanova!"

Pearl was surprised at the level of excitement he had regarding her phone call(although also fairly curious as to who this "Casanova" is). "You really think so?"

"Yeah, you were pretty smooth," Garnet said.

Ordinarily, Pearl would feel very proud upon hearing those words. But unfortunately, now she was mainly focused on the feeling of dread in the region where, if she were human, her stomach would be. It was given form when Amethyst gave words to what she just did.

"You did it, P! You actually asked someone out!"

She shuddered before replying, "Yep. I did," as beads of sweat starting popping up all over her face.

 _I really can't believe I just did that_.


	2. Ch 2: Adventures in Apparel Projection

Well, here's Part 2. Sorry it took a little longer than I said it would. I finished it by the end of January, but school and stuff caused me to forget to upload it before the month ended. So, here we are: Chapter 2, Adventures in Apparel Projection. I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

"Um, Amethyst? Steven? I really don't think this is necessary." Pearl said.

As she spoke, Amethyst and Steven were in the process of picking out what she was going to wear. Garnet, meanwhile, was working on something else.

"But it's your first date. You've got to look nice," Steven replied.

"What about my regular outfit doesn't look nice?" Pearl queried.

"Well, for starters," Amethyst chimed, making Pearl immediately regret asking, "the colors don't really match well. Light blue and yellow-orange just don't mix well, P."

Before Pearl could interject, she continued, "Also, the pink socks pop too much, the flats look really stiff, I don't even know what that sash is doing there, and-"

"Okay, Amethyst, we get the gist," Steven said. "Look, Pearl, it's not that it doesn't look nice, it's just...well..."

"Well, what?" Pearl asked.

"For the first date, you've got to give the person a better idea of who you are and what you're like. So you should wear something that shows a different side of your personality. That way, she'll get a better picture of you."

Pearl stopped to consider his words for a moment before relenting. "Alright, I guess maybe a different set of clothes is called for here."

Suddenly Pearl had an idea. "Oh! Steven, since we need to save time, maybe you could open up Rose's room so we could try out outfits in there."

"Sure!" Steven replied. He walked up to the temple door and activated the pink keystone on the top point of the star. The door opened up in a flash of pink light to reveal a domain of pink clouds.

As Amethyst, Steven, and Pearl entered, Amethyst walked up to Steven and asked, "So where'd you learn all that stuff about dating? Personal experience?" she added jokingly, alluding to the particularly strong friendship between Steven and his friend Connie.

Steven blushed slightly, which make Amethyst snicker as he responded, "N-no. I just got it off of a movie, that's all."

Suddenly, a pack of small pink whales flew up in front of them and began chirping.

"Aw!" Amethyst cried. She wasn't usually the type to gawk at something's cuteness, but the extraordinary cuteness of the pink whales merited an exception to that rule. They soon returned back to their original course: a distant corner of the room.

"Huh. Weird," Steven said as they walked further and further away from the whales.

"What?" Amethyst asked.

"I didn't ask the room to make any of those," he replied.

"Maybe it's, like, hooked up to your subconscious mind or some biz," Amethyst responded.

"Maybe..." Steven said, but he didn't sound convinced. "Eh, anyway, it's probably nothing to worry about."

They continued onward towards their destination.

 _25,_ Pearl thought as she put on the next outfit in a long line of attempts.

"Nope," Amethyst said, exhausted. "It looks too...I don't know, snooty."

The outfit Pearl was currently trying was a long dress and a large hat studded with white pearls, both in her favorite color, turquoise.

 _26_ , Pearl thought. She grumbled some rather un-Crystal-Gem-like language under her breath and continued on to the next outfit: a light grey sweater with a bird on it.

"Nope," Amethyst repeated, "Grey doesn't really suit you, P."

 _27_ , Pearl thought, finally deciding enough was enough.

"Ugh! This is a waste of time! It's already 2:10 and I still need to drive to the place! Can't I just go in my regular outfit?"

"Hang on, Pearl, I think I've got an idea!" Amethyst exclaimed, and she went over to the back of Steven's clothing shop recreation and had Pearl throw on a side cut top and some sweatpants.

Pearl took one look at herself in the mirror and said, "No."

"Eh, worth a shot," Amethyst replied.

"Hmm," Steven was lost in thought for a second, however he finally managed to settle on an idea. He pulled out the required items and asked Pearl to put them on and let Steven make some adjustments, despite her insistence that she must get going.

When she emerged from the changing room, both Amethyst and Steven were amazed. Pearl was confused by this, and went to look at herself in the mirror.

She saw herself wearing a beautiful turquoise top, along with a medium sized white skirt. She also wore a nice pair of black heels, and her sash had been tied into a belt around the skirt, completing the ensemble.

 _Well,_ she thought with a smile, _28th time's the charm._

With the matter of her wardrobe resolved and Greg agreeing to drive her to the coffee shop, Pearl was ready to embark on her "date."

She was about to head out the door when Garnet stopped her and handed her a small memo pad.

"Take this," she said, in her typical no-nonsense tone that provided no opportunity for argument.

"What's this?" Pearl inquired.

"It's a notebook filled with everything you should and shouldn't say to ensure the best possible outcome for your date."

Flipping through it, Pearl couldn't help but notice that the "shouldn't" list was much longer than the should list. Much, much longer.

"Yes, well, hopefully that won't be necessary for us to have a good time," Pearl said optimistically.

Garnet looked at her with Sapphire's trademark "I am not joking" expression.

"...Right?" Pearl asked, growing more and more worried with each second of Garnet's silence.

Finally Garnet said, "The odds aren't in your favor on that one, Pearl."

Pearl gulped audibly. She decided to try and loosen the knot in her throat with a little humor.

"Ah, yes. Well, um, noted for future reference."

Garnet put on Sapphire's trademark smile as her visor reflected a glimmer of light.

With that, Pearl walked over to the road where the van was waiting and bid farewell to her companions as they wished her good luck.

"So what do you know about this Sheena girl?" Greg asked.

As he asked this question, the two were driving along the highway in his formerly-semi-famous van towards a coffee shop in Ocean Town.

Pearl spent a few seconds in contemplation before replying.

"Well, she likes Mike Krol's music."

"Hm. Good taste," Greg said approvingly.

"And she's tall. She's almost a head taller than me."

 _Whoa,_ Greg thought, _that woman must be tall, then. I'm like 5'10" and Pearl's still a half a head taller than me!_

"What else?" Greg asked. Pearl was hesitant to add on more details, given a certain comparison made by Steven on the night of their first meeting, but she continued regardless.

"She's...what's the word Amethyst used?...stacked. Is that the right way to describe it?"

At this, Greg laughed. Pearl took that to mean that it that was not the correct word to describe Sheena's body type.

After he'd calmed down, Greg chuckled and answered, "Do you mean that she was big?"

Pearl nodded, embarrassed.

"I think the word you were looking for was 'stocky,'" he said.

"What's the other expression mean?"

"Uh..." Greg hesitated before continuing, "You know what? Just look it up online."

Somehow, even though Greg didn't say anything as to the word's actual meaning, Pearl could already tell it was something inappropriate. She made a mental note to herself, _Scold Amethyst when I get back_.

With that last phrase, they continued on in silence for a while before Greg let out another chuckle.

"What?" Pearl asked.

Greg chuckled a little longer before he responded:

"Nothing. It's just...wow. I mean, look at you."

"I don't follow." Pearl looked down at her outfit, thinking maybe he was complimenting it or something.

"Oh, no. Not like that. I just mean..."

He paused for a few seconds before continuing.

"Well, think about it. 20 years ago, you thought a Gem would only go out with a human because they were a novelty, and now you're about to go out with one purely out of your own desire to be in a relationship. It's kind of ironic if you think about it."

Pearl paused for a moment before finally saying, "Yeah. I suppose it is."

Greg continued, "Just goes to show how much someone can change in 20 years. Even when they've already lived for, what? 6000?"

Yet again, Pearl attempted to reduce the awkwardness with a little humor.

"Now, now, Greg. Didn't Rose ever tell you it was rude to ask a Gem's age?"

At this they both laughed as they pulled up into the parking lot.

"So, is Miss Ramone waiting for us?" Greg asked.

"She said she'd be off work at 2:30." With that, Pearl checked the time. It was currently 2:45. "She'll probably be here in a few minutes."

"Good, good," Greg said.

The two sat in silence for a moment. Suddenly, Pearl decided to ask Greg a question she'd been tossing in her head since the minute she'd entered Sheena's number into Steven's phone.

"How do you suppose Rose would've felt about this?"

Greg had to pause for a minute of contemplation before finally replying, "Well, I think she'd want you to be happy. And I think she'd want you to have an opportunity to move on."

Pearl considered this as Greg thought some more and continued:

"I think she would've been supportive. She would've loved that you'd be willing to take such a risk, especially given how much you didn't like humans. Seeing you start to understand what she saw in them, I think, was something she'd wanted for a long time."

Another pause.

"At the end of the day...I think she would've been really proud of you, Pearl."

Pearl contemplated this for a moment. She teared up slightly, but wiped it away before Greg could notice. Afterwards, she smiled and looked up at the sky as she said:

"Yeah. Me too."


	3. Ch 3: What We Really Are

**What We Really Are**

 _If I had a human heart, it would probably be functioning at a dangerously high rate right about now_ , Pearl thought.

As she thought over her non-existent racing heartbeat, a small grey car which matched Sheena's description of her own was pulling into the parking lot.

"Is that the car?" Greg asked.

Pearl took a second before responding tersely, "Yep."

As Pearl sat there, she looked at the notebook Garnet gave her. She turned to the front cover page again and noticed a message scrawled in large font at the top: "Do not tell her what you are at this time!" With that in mind, she quickly hid it away and began to attempt to calm herself. Meanwhile, Greg decided to get a look at this "Mystery Girl."

She was a tall, large woman with long, flowing pink hair, and a series of piercings through her ears and lower lip. The dye seemed to be fading slightly: Greg could notice a slight streak of natural brown hair. He wondered if this was intentional. She was wearing a large top with some kind of fox drawn on it, as well as a pair of ripped jeans.

Overall, he could see the resemblance between Sheena and Rose: same build, same face, same hair color. _I just hope Pearl isn't jumping into this just because of that_ , Greg thought. _The last thing she needs is a repeat of her and Rose._

Still, he could definitely see the appeal, and he also noticed something else about her appearance. Before he could stop himself, he voiced it, although barely below a whisper:

"Hm. So Amethyst was right after all."

"Huh?" Pearl asked.

"N-nothing," Greg shakily replied.

As they spoke, Sheena had walked halfway across the parking lot en route to the door.

"Oh!" Pearl exclaimed, "She's almost at the door!" She hastily added, "We'd agreed to meet at the front of the shop, so I should probably be going."

With that, she quickly collected herself and dashed out the van, thanking Greg for the ride. Greg wished her good luck, and in about 10 seconds she'd run up to meet Sheena at the door.

"Hey," Sheena said, equal parts curt and pleased.

"Hey," Pearl said, about 70% anxiously and 30% awestruck.

Sheena was about to say something else when she stopped.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up," Sheena said suddenly, pointing to the van she'd noticed Pearl running from and which was now exiting the lot.

"Hm?" Pearl was curious as to what had interested her so, and thus her gaze rested on the departing van.

"Was that **the** 'Mr. Universe' van?" she asked, both incredulous and a little excited.

"Uh, yes. What of it?" Pearl replied.

What followed next was the most high pitched scream that Pearl had ever heard a human emanate in all of the 6000 years she'd been on Earth.

"Oh. My. Gosh!" Sheena exclaimed. "You know Mr. Universe?!"

"Yes. So?" Pearl answered, somewhat scared.

"So?!" she screamed. "He's only, like, the greatest 90's indie solo rock band of all time! How'd you meet?! I **have** to know!"

Despite the fact that her excitement felt like it was producing actual electric shocks all over her body, Pearl was reluctant to indulge her curiosity.

"Um..." Pearl hesitated before finishing with, "I don't feel...comfortable talking about all that just yet. I-if that's okay with you."

She looked away from Sheena for a split second, but that was all the time Sheena needed to realize it was a touchy subject.

"Oh. Um, okay. Sure. Maybe later."

The two walked in silence until they came upon the door.

"Allow me," Pearl said. She had already reached her hand out to the handle before Sheena interjected:

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll get the door."

She held it open and beckoned for her to enter with a slight curtsy.

"After you," she said with a smile.

Pearl blushed slightly as she entered, with Sheena closing it behind her. Sheena then went ahead to the line to order drinks. Pearl followed, but for some reason felt her hand inexplicably drawn to the door for a split second. She berated herself and proceeded to move next to Sheena in the line.

:::

 _Hm_ , Pearl thought, _You know?_ _I think I actually_ _ **like**_ _this drink._

As she thought this, the two were enjoying their coffee at a small table by the window. Sheena had ordered a "latte," while Pearl asked for a simple milk coffee. While in the line, the two had chatted about a couple things: what Sheena's job at the local hair salon was like(including many expletives directed at her manager), the many "indie" bands that Sheena liked, and some of Pearl's interests, such as astronomy, cooking, and engineering. Fortunately for Pearl, Garnet's earlier prediction seemed to have been proven false, as the date went along fairly smoothly, the pair sitting down and continuing to chat as they had some snacks and beverages.

"Wait, wait, wait-hold on," Sheena said, snickering, "You're saying you shut down the entire Beach City power grid with a microwave and a couple of hair dryers?"

"And an antenna with a little smiley face on it," Pearl added, partly out of humor and partly out of her desire for accuracy.

"How the heck is that even possible?" she asked, bewildered.

"Well, you start by building an interface between the three devices, and then you hook them all up and place the hair dryers facing opposite each other on top of the interface so that the thermal energy begins to...uh..." Pearl started to explain, but stopped when Sheena's eyes started to glaze over a little. She hesitated for a moment before finishing with a simpler explanation: "With science."

Sheena returned to the present moment upon hearing those words, saying, "Oh! Sorry. Sometimes, when people are talking really fast about stuff I don't understand, I'm just like...bleh, you know?" She made an exaggerated space out expression as she said this.

"Ah, yes. I've observed the same reaction to such explanations from my friend Amethyst."

"Hang on," Sheena said, "So your name is Pearl, and now you're saying you have a friend named Amethyst?"

"Yes," Pearl replied, not sure where she was going with this.

"I'm not trying to trash your name or anything. Matter of fact," she said before pausing for a split second, "I really like it." Pearl blushed slightly at this.

She continued, "I just feel like it's a real funny coincidence, you know? You're named after a gem, then you've got a friend named after a totally different gem..." Sheena trailed off at this point. As she did so, Pearl was beginning to wonder if perhaps she should tell her the truth, tell her what she really was. She remembered Garnet's warning, and couldn't help envisioning the effect the information might have on her should she do so. The image was not pretty.

"February," she blurted out suddenly.

"Huh?" Sheena asked, confused.

"She was born in February," Pearl lied. "H-her name's actually Amy, b-but when she learned that Amethyst was her birth stone, s-she liked Amethyst more, s-so I call her Amethyst."

Sheena looked at her funny for a minute, probably due to the fact that she was making a very awkward looking face, the kind that 12 year olds on the Internet seem to find hilarious. However, she eventually responded, "Oh. Well, that explains it."

"Anyway," Sheena said as she got up with her tray, "I've had enough coffee for now. How about we go out for a walk?"

"Um, sure," Pearl said hesitatingly.

The two exited the coffee shop and began to walk down the block.

"Oh, hey," Sheena said, "There's this cool spot over in Beach City overlooking the beach. The view is amazing. You willing to drive a ways?"

"Of course. Yes. Definitely," Pearl replied. She wasn't quite sure what was making her more nervous at this point: Sheena finding out what she was and leaving her, or how she was looking at her and smiling and her green eyes were shining in the glow of the streetlight and her other attractive traits combined in such a way that Pearl could barely think straight, hence the stuttering and uncharacteristically choppy sentence structure.

Pearl walked in a daze to Sheena's car, pondering what to do for the entire trip and not talking to Sheena aside from small talk.

Eventually, they got to the spot and Sheena led Pearl up the cliff. By this point, Pearl was doing everything in her power to keep from freaking out.

 _Gosh, what I'd give to be able to shapeshift away my sweat glands,_ Pearl thought. Had she been under less stress, she would've puzzled over why it is that Gems don't have a built in digestive system, yet the inclusion of sweat glands and tear ducts was there since the first cuts. As it was, however, she was too busy freaking out over the fact that Sheena was holding her hand and how pretty she was that it never crossed her mind.

At last, they got to the top. Sheena let go of her hand, sweeping it over the landscape ahead in a dramatic fashion.

"Pretty cool, right?" she said with a smile.

Her panic attack having slightly subsided, Pearl was able to process where they were: on the cliff overlooking the Temple.

"Uh, yeah. Cool," she replied.

The pair sat down on the grass and Pearl looked out at the ocean waves, gradually calming down, a calm that would ultimately be short-lived.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sheena asked.

"Hm?" Pearl replied, having spaced out a little. "Uh, yes. Yes, I'm fine."

Sheena wasn't convinced, however.

"You sure? You seem like you've been on edge ever since we left the coffee shop."

Pearl began to panic slightly once more.

"I mean, is it something I did? Is this-I mean, are we going too fast?"

"No, no," Pearl hastily replied. "It's not that. It's just..."

Pearl turned away from her, struggling to come up with a way to explain what was wrong. Sheena moved a little closer to her and put her hand on her shoulder, making Pearl jump slightly.

"Pearl, what's wrong?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

"I..."

Pearl hesitated for a second, but eventually got up the courage to continue.

"I've been having a lovely time, and I really do want this to work. I really...like you," she began, slightly surprised at herself when she heard herself saying that second sentence..

"But there are some things about me that, if I explained them to you, would immediately preclude any possibility of a...relationship, with you or any other human."

Sheena, a bit confused when she said "other human" as opposed to "other person" or "other girl," pressed further.

"Like what?" she asked. "I mean, are you...not attracted to anybody?"

Pearl shifted uncomfortably.

"Is there something wrong…?" she tapped her head lightly with her finger.

More shifting uncomfortably.

"I mean, did you...kill somebody?"

"No!" Pearl replied hurriedly, "No, no, no, no, no! Nothing like that, at all."

"Then what is it?" Sheena asked. Pearl continued to fidget and stared down at the ground, but stopped as Sheena drew herself slightly closer. If she weren't panicking and mulling over how to explain to her what the issue was, she probably would've thought more about how she smelled like cinnamon and that she could still catch the faintest scent of the pink hair dye she'd re-applied that morning.

After a couple of seconds, Sheena said, "Pearl, I want this to work too. I really do. But if this is going to work, I need you to know that you can trust me, and that I want to help you with whatever it is that's bothering you."

Pearl lifted her head up slightly at Sheena's words. Sheena continued, "So, please, Pearl: tell me what's wrong."

Pearl took a moment, steeling herself for whatever would happen. In the stress she felt at the revelation she was about to impart upon Sheena, she forgot to even glance at Garnet's notebook before she took a deep breath and finally took the plunge.

"6000 years ago, this planet was visited by a highly advanced alien race known as the Gems," she began.

Sheena looked at her skeptically as she continued, slowly: "Their goal was to...colonize this planet and drain it of natural resources in order to create more Gems. Doing this would have resulted in the extinction of all life on Earth."

Sheena started slightly at this, and Pearl added, "However, these efforts were ultimately thwarted by the Crystal Gems, a group of Gems who believed that Earth and its living creatures deserved the chance to live and evolve. And thus, after a brutal 1000 year war, the Crystal Gems succeeded in driving their kind away from their colony."

Pearl paused to let this sink in. Sheena stared at her for a minute before finally saying, in a confused tone, "Um, okay? What does that fantasy story sales pitch have to do with you?"

Pearl looked at her for a second, took a deep breath, and resumed her explanation.

"Ever since, the Crystal Gems have resided in that very Temple," she said, pointing at the Temple, "For 5000 years, they have continued to protect this planet and the citizens of this city from various threats."

Another pause as Sheena was even more confused, before Pearl continued, "And among their ranks included their leader, Rose Quartz, the Gems Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst, and their second in command."

Sheena had already started to suspect there was something to the story at the mention of Amethyst, but as she was looking off to the Temple facing away from Pearl as she spoke, she began to hear a glow emanating from the very spot Pearl sat. Sheena turned around and drew back a little, hand over her heart, as she saw Pearl's body begin to transform.

Her hair became longer and now ended in curls, she had become slightly shorter, and her socks changed from pink to a light grey. As the glow faded, Pearl finished her last sentence: "Me."

:::

For a couple of seconds neither of them spoke. Sheena's hand had moved onto her forehead now, and her expression conveyed that she was struggling to process this new information, reaffirming that what she had just seen was, in fact, real and not the result of improperly prepared cocoa beans. Pearl, seeing this reaction, began to have a panic attack. Thinking she had finally screwed up beyond hope of repair, she reverted back to her original form and rushed to assure Sheena that everything was fine. After a couple seconds of this with no response, she was immediately lost.

Having never seen a human being react like this, she had very little idea on how to proceed. She quickly felt for the notebook Garnet gave her, but, to her horror, it couldn't be found. She began to frantically look for the book, wondering where she could've lost it and getting more and more anxious the longer it remained lost. After a minute of searching for it, she paused as Sheena, having calmed down for the time being and made a decision, said to her, "Pearl."

It was at this moment, as Sheena began to move closer to Pearl, who now had her back turned and was in full panic mode, that Pearl felt something on the grass nearby. She looked to see a small scrap of paper, small enough so that she had not noticed it previously. She picked it up and read Garnet's note in her head, the prediction that Garnet felt was the most vital out of all of them.

 _Night, cliff overlooking Temple. You have just told Sheena what you really are. There is only one thing you must do to ensure the best possible outcome:_

"'Turn around,'" Pearl muttered softly to herself, so softly that Sheena, who was now a foot behind her, could not hear her.

Upon reading this, she did so, and came face to face with Sheena as she softly pulled her face towards hers and kissed her.

:::

Now, one would think that Pearl would be shocked and panicky, what with it being her first kiss and her well-established anxiety. However, while she was surprised for a second, she quickly relaxed into it. It wasn't anything overly passionate; no clothing was grabbed, the two didn't move very much, and there was no noise at all aside from the fluttering of the fireflies and the distant crash of the waves on the beach. Thus, a more apt comparison than any sort of fire would be a pond: calm, quiet, and peaceful. There was a sense of serenity and order to it that a fiery, passionate affair could never hope to replicate. It seemed as if time was slowing down, locking the pair in that moment for all of eternity, an eternity of peace.  
Of course, all ponds are eventually disrupted. And sometimes those disruptions come in the form of short, loud, purple humanoid rocks.

"Woo-hoo! Yeah! Get some of that, P!"

Amethyst's sudden shout of encouragement, born partly out of her excitement and partly out of her desire to fulfill her role as the ultimate wingman, made both Pearl and Sheena jump. They moved away from each other and got up hurriedly. It was at this moment that the pair noticed that Amethyst wasn't alone: Steven and Garnet were also there, the former smiling and chuckling in typical Steven fashion, and the latter smiling and giving Pearl not one, but two thumbs up.

Sheena started chuckling at the sight of Pearl's friends after getting over the initial shock, but Pearl was enraged and still blushing profusely as she scolded them.

"You know, I would've expected it from you, Amethyst, but the rest of you are better than this! I mean, sneaking up on somebody when they're-" she paused to look back and blushed even more profusely as Sheena continued to chuckle. Eventually, she regained her composure and finished with the classic line, "You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

After a little more chuckling, Garnet said, "She's right, Amethyst. Let's give them some privacy."

"Ugh, fine," Amethyst agreed begrudgingly.

Steven took the initiative and jumped into the sky, zipping over Pearl and Sheena's heads as he floated to a stop on the beach below. Amethyst followed suit, saying "See you later, lovebirds!" as she jumped into the air to join Steven. Finally, Garnet jumped into the sky along with them, but not before giving Pearl one last smile.

"Sorry about that," Pearl said. "Gosh, between Amethyst's nosiness and Garnet's future vision, I'm starting to worry that we'll hardly have any privacy."

Sheena chuckled. "Nah, it's cool. I'm looking forward to meeting them officially."

Pearl was about to add something, but a light buzzing noise began to emanate from Sheena's pocket. She reached in and grabbed her phone to look at the notification.

"Aw, shoot!" she exclaimed. "I completely forgot I had to stop by my neighbor's place to feed her guinea pig!" She hurriedly made sure she had all of her things. "I have to be there at six, and it's already 5:45! There's no way I'm going to make it in time!"

"Do you need a ride?" Pearl asked.

Sheena stopped to look at her for a second. "I mean, unless you have a jet or something in that Temple that can get me there in 15 minutes."

Pearl looked down towards the Temple for a particular large, pink creature. She spotted him lounging under the deck, as usual.

"Well..." Pearl said, "Maybe not a jet..."

:::

A raccoon had been slowly moving towards Sheena's abandoned car while she and Pearl were gone. No sooner had he gotten up to the back left wheel when a roaring sound and a giant pink portal opening not 3 feet away from him made him reconsider his bid for food.

As Lion emerged from his portal next to Sheena's car, he decided to promptly plop down onto the road and take a brief nap as Sheena and Pearl got off. Pearl took out a fish she found on the beach and held it out in front of Lion. He grabbed it and ate it slowly and lazily.

"Well," Sheena said after a couple seconds of silence, "That was...interesting."

"It takes a couple trips before you get used to it," Pearl said.

"Hm," Sheena said. After a brief pause, she asked Pearl, "So, are there any particular days you're free, say, next week? You know, after saving the city and all that stuff?"

"Well, I mean, there are some days when the others can cover for me," Pearl replied.

"So, does Friday after 5 work for you?" Sheena asked.

Pearl thought about it for a minute. "I don't see how it wouldn't," she replied.

"Alright then," Sheena said. "So, see you then?"

Pearl stood there for a few seconds as she started to sweat, having an idea of what was coming next, "Y-yeah. See you then."

Her prediction came true as Sheena leaned in for another kiss, a bit longer this time as they were certain no one was going to pop out and scare them this time. After their last foray into that everlasting serenity for that night, Sheena got up into her car and drove away, waving goodbye as she made a U-turn and headed towards Ocean Town.

Pearl stood there for a moment, trying to reaffirm that everything that had happened that night had indeed occurred. When she finally did, she stood there smiling and thinking ahead to her next date with Sheena. But eventually, Lion got up and nudged her in the leg to remind her that it was time to head home. Lion, being in a good mood, allowed her to climb onto his back once more. They cantered down the road until Lion let out a roar which fizzled into a pink portal ahead of them. They soon got to it, whereupon they entered it en route for the warmth of the Temple.


End file.
